


Overboard

by yarnandtea



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: AU, M/M, Mermen, One Shot, Prompt Fic, sailors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yarnandtea/pseuds/yarnandtea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been over a year since James was lost overboard in a storm, and Kaidan can't stop thinking of him. Imagine his surprise when James suddenly turns up in the middle of the ocean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overboard

**Author's Note:**

> Not really prompted, but definitely enabled by fragilespark. I was sharing a list of potential AUs, and one was merpeople/sailors. She commented that she could definitely see James and Kaidan in this scenario. I couldn't help but agree. Just a wee peek into their story, but I had fun imagining it up. I hope you have fun reading it!

Kaidan sighed and dragged his eyes from the horizon, turning his attention back to the deck he was swabbing. He was being foolish, he knew, but he couldn’t shake the sudden sense of familiarity that had come over him when they passed that little cluster of islands.

This was the spot.

He had no way to know that. Not for sure. But he did.

This was where they had lost James.

Kaidan shuddered and tried to put his focus into his work. _You don’t know that_ , he told himself, trying hard to believe it. But those islands…he shook his head. _No. Don’t think about it. Just. Don’t._ After all, it had been a year since the other sailor had gone overboard during a storm, never to be seen again. A little bit longer, actually, since they’d left port late this year. He should be over this by now. It shouldn’t hurt so damn much.

Maybe it was because he still felt like it was his fault. After all, James would have been fine if he hadn’t stopped to push Kaidan into safety. Kaidan inhaled sharply, trying not to remember the boyish grin James shot him, just before a wall of water crashed over the deck and carried him off. Kaidan’s cry of objection, of disbelief, had been swallowed by the roar of the wind, and by the time he had gained his footing, it was too late. Even if the rest of the crew had wanted to stop and try to find their missing man, there had been no way they could have. At that point there’d been nothing to do but ride out the storm and hope that it left the ship intact when it was finished.

He needed to stop thinking about it. He could almost hear James’ amused chuckle, chiding him. _Wasn’t your fault, K. You woulda done the same thing for me._ He would have, too. James had been a friend, a good one. Certainly the closest friend he’d made on any crew he’d ever served with. There had been something else there too, growing between them on that last voyage. Something Kaidan had never even admitted to himself until after James was gone. Something that would explain the way the two of them always seemed to orient on each other, to sit just a smidge too close, to find ways to touch. A _want_ so deep it almost hurt on the physical level. He couldn’t imagine how he ever would have broached the idea with James. All he knew was that now he never could.

Was that what this was, then? This sadness that had lingered for the past year, far beyond when he should have been moving on with his life? Could it really just be regret for what might have been? Kaidan snorted to himself and picked up his bucket, carrying it over to the rail. He wouldn’t have thought himself that much of a hopeless romantic.

He heaved back the bucket to toss its contents overboard, and only just managed to catch himself and stop the throw before he hit the figure hanging off the side of the ship. Dirty water sloshed over his bare feet, but Kaidan didn’t notice; his attention was riveted to the person in front of him. Brown eyes twinkled with amusement and mischief. “Hiya, K,” James said.

“James,” Kaidan breathed. The bucket clattered from his hand and he raced to the rail, unable to stop himself from reaching out to touch one bare shoulder to make sure this was real. “How—“ He swallowed, pulling his hand back as if burned.

The islands! That must be it. James must have managed to make it to one of them during the storm. Had he been stranded there this whole time? And he’d, what? Seen the ship passing and come after it? His eyes darted over what he could see of James, checking for scars, for any sort of hint about what he might have been through. There were scars aplenty, of course, but there always had been. Nothing new that Kaidan could see. The same broad chest, brown skin made even darker by so much time under the sun without a shirt. His eyes traced the whorls of black ink, just as he remembered. Belatedly, he blinked, realizing that James was still hanging on to the side of the ship. He moved to get a hand under his arm. “What am I thinking? Here, let me help you aboard!”

James let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. “Probably not a good idea,” he said, shooting a meaningful glance downward.

Kaidan frowned and leaned over the edge, following James’ look. He let out a cry of surprise and stumbled back a step, eyes wide as they turned back to James’ face. James just shrugged and shot him a grin. Kaidan glanced around the deck, relieved to see that no one else was around this little corner of it. Then he took a cautious step forward and peered over the side again. He hadn’t imagined it. Instead of legs, James now had a tail. Sleek and grey and powerful looking, it reminded Kaidan of the back half of a shark. There was, Kaidan realized, a matching fin jutting from his friend’s back. “How?” He met James’ eyes again.

“Bit of a story there,” James said, his voice gone quiet. He glanced around the deck. “Probably not a good time to tell you.”

“Oh.” Kaidan tried not to keep the disappointment from his voice.

James noticed anyway, his smile softening. “Captain still have you on the night watch?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” James nodded. “I’ll be back then. I’ll tell you the whole thing.” He turned to push off from the rail and then paused, glancing back with a smile. “It’s good to see you again, K. I missed you.”

Kaidan’s brow furrowed. “We’ve got a good wind,” he said, glancing at the sails. “And we had a late start. I don’t know if I can get the captain to slow our pace any.”

“Doesn’t matter,” James chuckled. “I’ll keep up.”

With that, he did push off, disappearing back into the water with a soft splash. Kaidan stared at the spot for a long while, but James did not reemerge. “Missed you too,” he finally managed to breathe, before retrieving his abandoned bucket and throwing himself back into his work.

The wait until nightfall seemed interminable to Kaidan. For the rest of the day he felt anxious, jumpy. His eyes kept darting over the side of the ship, hoping to see a glimpse of dark grey fin. Hoping no one _else_ saw it. Either James had overestimated his abilities to keep up, or Kaidan had underestimated his abilities to remain hidden. He supposed he’d find out when his turn at watch came.

Questions buzzed through his mind, a cacophony that would have left him with a raging headache, if not for the euphoria that accompanied them. James was alive! Not actually human anymore, apparently, but alive nonetheless. Kaidan couldn’t quite find it in himself to be bothered by the tail. Curious, absolutely, but not bothered at all.

Although there _was_ that nagging little voice that insisted on pointing out a James with a tail could not be a James on the ship. James still wanted to talk, to explain. To see Kaidan. That thought alone was enough to sustain him through the rest of the day.

At long last, the ship sailed through the day and into the night, well out of sight of any sort of land. The crew turned in to their hammocks, leaving Kaidan to keep an eye on the ship’s bearing and make corrections as necessary, watching out for any potential obstructions they might encounter. Only the soft glow from the captain’s windows and the few lanterns hanging over the deck pushed back the darkness. Silence reigned, save for the sounds of the water that surrounded them. Kaidan normally loved this time. He’d asked for this rotation of the watch, the usual peace of it going a long way to keep the headaches that afflicted him at bay. During the day, he had his work, and at night, he had the quiet and the open sea.

It had been enough, once.

Tonight, though, there was no sense of peace. Just anticipation that buzzed through his entire body. He felt tense, stretched taut while he waited, listened for any indication that he was no longer alone. It finally came about halfway through his shift. A splashing to the port that was only just louder than the waves. Kaidan headed toward it in time to see a broad-shouldered shadow emerge above the rail. “Kaidan,” the shadow said, the smile clear in his voice even if it wasn’t visible.

“You must be a hell of a swimmer now,” Kaidan mused by way of greeting. He leaned back against the rail next to James, elbows resting on the smooth wood as he continued to scan their surroundings. He would love nothing more than to devote all of his attention to his returned friend, but he was still on watch, after all. Besides, he suspected it wouldn’t be the best thing if anyone else on the crew got restless decided to come above deck unexpectedly.

James laughed in response and Kaidan sensed him shifting closer. A smile quirked up the edges of his lips. He sidled a step toward James as well, and was rewarded with another laugh. “Never really had the knack for it when I had legs,” James said, “but it’s a lot better like this.”

Kaidan thought about that for a moment and nodded. He’d seen James trying to swim before. He really hadn’t been any good at it. “So,” he drawled, trying to wrap his head around what he wanted to say, “now you’re a…what? Merman?”

“Always was.”

“What?” Kaidan forgot about paying attention to the rest of the ship and turned to stare at James, jaw agape.

James shrugged. “This is me,” he said, waving a hand at his lower half. “But I was always curious about people, about the ships that could go farther than we could.” In the dim light, Kaidan could see his lips twist in a depreciative smile. “A castaway washed up in our cove, once. She didn’t have any way off the island, and she was hurt, so I tried to help her. She taught me some of your language, told me about the ships, about humans…” He trailed off, and Kaidan thought he saw a sadness pass over James’ face.

“What happened to her?”

“Snake bite,” James said with a soft grunt. Once she got better, she started exploring the island, hunting, trying to build a shelter. She scared up a nest of vipers.” He shook his head. “Didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry,” Kaidan said, leaning in to bump their shoulders together.

“Yeah, well.” James shook his head a little. “Wish I could have helped her more. After that I got, obsessed, you could say, with your people. We’ve got members of our clans who can do what you’d call magic. I sought one out, asked her to change me. Then I made my way to land. Found a ship I liked the look of and joined the crew, and well, you know the rest.”

“Hardly,” Kaidan snorted, trying to wrap his head around it all. He offered James a smile to soften the word. “So, when you went overboard, you changed back?”

James grimaced. “The way the transformation was done,” he answered, “I was supposed to stay human until I wanted to change back.” He swallowed and looked around the deck. Kaidan detected a note of sadness in his voice when he continued. “The spellmistress thought I’d spend a season or two on legs and get it out of my system. I figured she was probably right, at least until…” He flicked his eyes to Kaidan and broke off, shrugging again. “Anyway, I wasn’t really planning on changing back. But when I hit the water, I couldn’t find my way to the surface. I,” he drew a deep breath, “I panicked.”

“You couldn’t swim,” Kaidan whispered, understanding, “so you changed back before you drowned.”

James nodded. “I wanted to _live_ , K.”

“Of course you did,” Kaidan agreed. “I’m glad you did.” He reached out, placing a hand on James’ shoulder. “I missed you. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Guess I am, at that,” James brightened a little. He smiled at Kaidan. “I went home, after the storm, and it was all right. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it. Missed the clan. But I didn’t want you to think I was _gone_. That just didn’t seem right. I came back here, been sticking close to those islands for the past month or so, waiting for the ship. I was starting to worry I’d waited too long.”

_He came to say goodbye_ , Kaidan thought, struggling to return the smile. He squeezed James’ shoulder and then dropped his hand, trying to see the good in the situation. James was alive, after all. His eyebrows drew down as he asked. “So you’re going back to your people, then? Returning to your old life.”

“Not much choice,” James sighed. “The way the magic works, I can only do that change once.”

Regret rang through his words. It shouldn’t have made Kaidan feel better, but it did.

“Thank you for finding me,” he said. “For coming to say goodbye. I’m glad we got to meet again, even just once.” He glanced down at his feet.

James cleared his throat. “Uh, right. Well. About that.” He sounded embarrassed. “I didn’t exactly come to say goodbye.”

“Oh?” Kaidan’s head snapped back up.

“Yeah. I—“

He broke off and muttered something that Kaidan didn’t understand. He guessed it was in James’ native tongue, and a spark of curiosity flashed through him. What was James’ world like? Merpeople? Magic? Hard to believe they actually existed. But the proof was right here in front of him, close enough to touch, undeniably real. Kaidan would give much to be able to see where James had come from.

James took a deep breath and met Kaidan’s eyes. “I actually came to ask you—look. I know this is a huge thing to ask, but I thought we—well, I missed you, Kaidan. _So_ much. I don’t like the idea of never seeing you again. It doesn’t sit right.”

“No,” Kaidan breathed, hope lighting within him, “it doesn’t.”

“Right.” James nodded. “I asked the spellmistress, and she said she could. Well, if you’d want to that is.” He shook his head and muttered in his own language again. “Damn, this shouldn’t be so hard.” Catching Kaidan’s eyes again, he said, “She can change you, if you want. If you thought you might like to come with me. It would be the same deal as with my change. Whenever you want to change back—“

“Yes!” Kaidan didn’t let James finish. A grin split his face, and he reached up again, clasping at James’ hand on the rail. “I’ll come with you. What do I need to do?”

James’ eyes went round and he grinned too. “Really? You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Kaidan had no warning. One second he and James were staring at each other over the railing, grinning like fools. The next, James had reached out with one strong arm and pulled him close, crushing Kaidan to his chest and bringing their lips together. The kiss was clumsy and awkward, but it made Kaidan’s heart sing. He reached up, stroking James’ cheek with his thumb, cursing the railing between them. He wanted to be closer, damn it. But from the sound of things, he would get that soon enough. “Tell me what to do.”

James pulled back, nodding, and let go of Kaidan to reach for something tied around his waist. He handed Kaidan a sack made of strange material, slippery and smooth to the touch. “Put anything you want to bring with you in this, it will keep it dry. I know you won’t leave during your watch. As soon as your replacement arrives, we’ll go. I think we can get you overboard without anyone noticing.”

“Um. We are in the middle of the ocean,” Kaidan pointed out.

“We just have to swim back to those islands near where I went overboard,” James assured him. “You’re a stronger swimmer than I was when I was human, and I can help you when you get tired. Once we get there, I’ve got tools. We can make a boat to get you the rest of the way.”

“All right.” Kaidan nodded. Another grin split his face. “You had this whole thing planned out, didn’t you?”

“I was hoping you’d say yes,” James admitted, voice soft. He gave Kaidan a soft smile, one full of hope and promise. Kaidan finally let himself put a name to the thing between them: love. Didn’t seem like there was any point in denying it now. He leaned forward to press a kiss to James’ lips, then glanced back at a creak from the ladder that led to the crew quarters. “I should go,” James whispered. He leaned forward to steal another quick kiss, then slipped back into the water with a soft, “See you soon.”

Kaidan folded up the sack and tucked it into his shirt, then made his way to the helm to check on their course. One of the other deckhands appeared at the top of the ladder. Kaidan traded nods with him and he made his way further down the deck, leaning against the rail to stare up at the stars. Not his relief, Kaidan noted, just a restless sleeper. He let out a shaky breath. If the other man had woken even a few minutes earlier…

Kaidan gave himself a shake. All was well. If James could keep up and stay hidden all day, he could certainly do so in the dead of night. Kaidan spared a glance at the stars himself. Only about an hour left in his shift, and then he would see James again. It would probably be a great mystery for the crew when morning came to find him gone. He pondered leaving a note, but what could he say? Let them think what they would think. He smiled to himself. All that mattered was that he was going with James.

He was going home.


End file.
